Editor's Guide: The game can give people timely feedback, and the rewards and punishments are obvious, so many people are addicted to the game. Many non-game products are now increasingly adding "gamification" designs to their functions to attract users. The author of this article has analyzed this and hopes to help you.
What is gamification? How to explain the concept of "gamification" in plain and easy-to-understand language? Today I'm going to give you a try to disassemble it.
First, the concept of gamification
Kevin Werbach, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, gives a superficial, disastrous concept of Gamification:
“Gamification is the use ofgame elementsand game design techniques in non-game contexts.”
"Gamification is the use of game elements and game design techniques for non-gaming."
The concept is very straightforward, and below we will disassemble and explain the 3 parts of the concept.
Game Elements
To give two examples of using game elements to serve out-of-game behavior:
1. Nike Run Club
Sports enthusiasts, fruit fans will find that iwatch has a Nike Run Club app pre-installed, whenever you arrive at a location, want to run, brisk walking and other outdoor sports, you can always call up the application in the hand table, or when you exercise to a certain rhythm, iwatch will prompt you to open the app and start exercising.
When you reach a target value (say: 5 kilometers, or 20,000 steps), Nike will award a small medal to record your workout milestones. At the same time, you can also join the sports community, publicize your achievements (medals), and "compete" with like-minded people on the leaderboards. This is also a more common game mechanic (PBL: Medals, Levels, Points System) that is more common in gamification.
Nike records the user's movement behavior, publishes goals and challenges through the software, and receives the Achievement Medal reward after achieving it. Nike's approach makes the experience of sports more like playing a game (or participating in a game).
Game elements are integrated into the sports software to help more effectively encourage users to continue exercising, making the user's sports experience better and more stage-stimulating.
Example of an ORDER OF NIKE
2. Zombies Run
The purpose of this software is to motivate those otaku and otaku to take their mobile phones out to exercise together.
Zombies Run incorporates some of the user's familiar zombie images into the software, and if you get involved, you'll feel the urgency of zombies chasing you (wanting to eat you) during the software's operation, and instinctively, you'll have to move around, limited to the space constraints of your home, and you may end up walking out the door and running down the street. If you stop too long, you may be chased by zombies or even eaten, so you have to continue on the road of movement.....
Similar to Nike Run, when you complete a small goal, you can unlock a small achievement in the software, and it has to be said that the software is very interactive. Zombie Run makes the boring brisk walking and running experience fun.
Zombies Run interface example
3. Game Elements
Chalkboard Moments: How can we interpret the term "game element" from the above two examples?
We can think of a game element as some kind of toolbox for software design (closely related to the game), but it is not the game itself, and the tools inside can be used to make up the interactive design of the game (to drive user engagement).
The KEAS website offers a service that helps employees of different companies to participate in healthier activities. As you can see from the image below, the website provides likes, virtual medals, rank rankings, gift incentives, etc., which can be seen in many large RPG games. KEAS uses some of the game interaction design that participants are familiar with (not only the game elements, but also the interaction design of the game elements – such as likes, a big one will appear on the screen)
These interactions are very common in games and are used in non-gaming areas to enhance the user's sense of experience and increase engagement.
KEAS website: Likes, badges, ratings, incentives
Game Design Techniques
The second part of the gamification concept is game design techniques. Recall that the game is not only about the game elements, this part of the emphasis is on the improvement of the visual experience of the participants. But the essence of the game is to be able to "glue" together the chaotic game elements in some way and play a 1+1>2 effect. Good games are called good games because they are systematically, thoughtfully, and cleverly designed for the game's progression (storyline). Game designers work with not only game elements, but also algorithms, interactive experiences, and so on.
Some examples of gamification focus more on elements, some focus more on game interaction design, and some have both. Therefore, in the concept of gamification, "game elements" and "game design techniques" are part of the definition.
Game design technology, it's a designer's way of thinking. It is not just a set of practical theories, but a way to deal with challenges.
Non-Game Contexts
The third part of the gamification concept is the "non-game realm," i.e. anything outside of the game itself.
Playing games is purely for fun.
However, if you are involved in a game related to your company's business, the process you are involved in, intangible or tangible, is because of some targeted service of your company; or your participation is because you are trying to learn knowledge related to your work; or you play the game to find the right job... These are examples of non-game contexts.
What you're involved with is still the game, but the basic principle of experience is something outside the game, it's independent of the game experience, and it has the purpose of effectiveness and intent to guide. For example, running is very important for Nike to sell shoes (on Tmall, JD.com, the promotion mini-game in Nike's flagship store, the direct purpose is to sell shoes). At the same time, running is also important for those who are eager to change their current physical condition and get health from running, which is what can be obtained outside of the game, the purpose of being able to sprint.
Involves some combination of game elements and game design techniques, but not for the purpose of playing games, or gamification.
This article was originally published by @ViWaViWa everyone is a product manager, and reproduction without permission is prohibited.
The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.